
/ 



I'.a.^^s^ 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



ir^t ilutrdi in |prin#iii(l 



An Address delivered June 22, 1875. 



WITH AN APPENDIX. 



HEI^ET MORRIS, 



"With Portx-aits aiad. 1 11 la s t x-a t i on s. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



_SPBTNGFIELD, MASS.: 
WHITNEY & ADAMS, 

1875. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 

WHITNEY & ADAMS, 
In tlie office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



CLARK AV. BRYAN AND COMPANY, 

ELECrROTYPERS, PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 






Springfield, July 1, 1875. 
Hon. Henry Morris : 

Dear Sir : — Sharing the feeling so generally expressed through 
our community, that the valuable historical paper, containing so 
many important and interesting facts concerning the history of 
the First Parish and the Town since 1G37, prepared by you dur- 
ing years of investigation, and listened to with so much interest 
on a recent evening at the First Church in this city, should he 
preserved in permanent form, we respectfully solicit a copy of it 
for publication. 

E. A. Reed, George Merriam, 

E. Wight, Elijah Blake, 
Samuel Bowles, H. M. Parsons, 

F. A. Brewer, S. M. Osgood, 
William Pynchon, William Kice. 
S. G. Buckingham, 



Springfield, July 9, 1875. 
Messrs. E. A. Eeed, E. Wight, 

Samuel Bowles, and others : 
Gentlevien : — In deference to the judgment, expressed by you, 
that the historical address, recently delivered hy me, contains 
facts sufficient!}^ important and interesting to render its preserva- 
tion in a permanent form desirable, I yield to your request for its 
publication. 

Bespectfully yours, 

Henry Morris. 



Historical Address. 



WiiEX the first settlers of Springfield, under the 
lead of William Pynchon, came here from Roxbury 
in 1636, and founded a new town, they brought with 
them the religious principles which had induced 
them, years previous, to forsake their native land 
and seek a home in America. Appreciating the im- 
portance of a Christian church and a Christian min- 
istry to the prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, 
of their new community, they early made provision 
for their establishment. 

Accordingly they drew up and signed an agree-- 
ment, containing fifteen articles, for the regulation 
of their town affairs, the first of which is in these 
words : " Wee intend by God's grace, as soon as we 
can, with all convenient speede, to procure some 
Godly and faithfull minister, with whom we purpose 
to joyne in church covenant to walk in all the ways 
of Christ." This agreement bears date May 14, 1636, 
and was signed as an original document by eight of 
the twelve settlers who first came here. 

Precisely at what time this purpose was accom- 
plished by the organization of a church, no record 
informs us. If any separate record was kept of the 
transactions of the church in that early period of its 



6 IIISTOrJCAL ADDRESS. 

history, it was long since lost or destroyed. None 
can now be found relating to transactions earlier 
than January 27, 1735. There can he little doubt 
that the church was organized about the time when 
Rev. George Moxon, its first minister, settled here in 
1637. In that year he came to this country from 
Yorkshire in England, bringing with him a wife and 
two daughters. He had been educated at Sidney 
College, in the University of Cambridge, where he 
took his deofree of Bachelor of Arts in 1623. He 
went first to Dorchester, perhaps with the intention 
of making that place his home, but, after a Ijrief 
sojourn there, he was induced by his attachment to 
Mr. Pynchon, with whom he was intimate, to follow 
that gentleman to Springfield, and to become the 
minister of the church here. He had received ordi- 
nation in England, and, on his arrival here at the age 
of thirty-five years, was prepared at once to enter 
upon the work of the ministry with this people. He 
remained here the pastor of this church fifteen years, 
till the year 1652, when he accompanied Mr. Pyn- 
chon to England, from which neither of them ever 
returned. 

Mr. Pynchon had written a book, entitled "The 
Meritorious Price of our Redemption," the theology 
of which was distasteful to the authorities at Boston, 
and although, under the pressure of both temporal 
and ecclesiastical censures, which he incurred, he re- 
tracted or modified some of the obnoxious sentiments 
of his book, the book itself was condemned to be 
burned by the common executioner in the- market 
place at Boston.* 

^Appendix A. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



How far the personal safety of Mr. Pynclion was 
imperiled by these proceedings is not clear. He was 
accused of heresy, and the teaching of heresy was 
then a grave offence against the civil law, which sub- 
jected the offender to trial and punishment. Thomas 
Dudley, one of the sternest Puritans of that age, was 
then governor of the colony, and not likely to relax 
any penalty which the law would demand. 

Mr. Pynchon was peremptorily summoned to ap- 
pear before the next General Court, to answer 
whether he would own this book, printed in England 
under his name, to be his or not, and in case he 
should acknowledge it, then the court declared their 
"purpose (God willing) to proceed with him accord- 
ing to his demerits," unless he should sign a written 
retraction, which should be printed and dispersed in 
England as well as here. Mr. Norton, the minister of 
Ipswich, was specially appointed to answer the Ijook, 
and Pynchon was enjoined to take home with him 
this answer and consider it. Thinking himself ill- 
treated in this matter, Mr. Pynchon left this town, 
which he had founded, and which owed its growth so 
much to his care and enterprise, and with his son-in- 
law, Henry Smith, returned to England, leaving here 
a son, Avho in the sequel succeeded to his father's of- 
fices and influence. 

At this distance of time, and in the absence of any 
ecclesiastical records, it is exceedingly difficult, if not 
impossible, to form any adequate conception of the 
character of Mr. Moxon, or of the value of his minis- 
terial labors in this church. From the declared pur- 
pose of the first settlers to procure " some godly and 
faithful minister," and from the fact that he had been 



8 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

long and intimately known to Mr. Pynclion, it may 
fairly be inferred that Mr. Moxon was a man of that 
stamp. That he enjoyed the confidence and respect 
of the people here, is manifest from the fact that in 
April, 1G38, they chose him a depnty to represent 
them in the General Court at Hartford, within which 
jurisdiction Springfield was then thought to fall. 
Another token of their regard is found in the circum- 
stance that they assigned him a home lot of nearly 
double the usual width, and in 1639, by a voluntary 
assessment built him a house 35 by 1-5 feet in size, 
having a porch and study, — a commendable example 
for the imitation of those living in more modern 
times. In this house, located on the westerly side of 
Main street, near what is now A^ernon street, the min- 
ister lived during the last thirteen years of his resi- 
dence here, and in the first meeting-house, erected in 
1645, about where the large elm stands, near the 
south-easterly corner of Court Square, he met his peo- 
ple, as they assembled on the Sabbath at the sound of 
the drum, and proclaimed to them the words of eter- 
nal life. This meeting-house was forty feet long and 
twenty-five feet wide, and faced south on the one-rod 
road, leading to the training-field and burial-ground, 
since made Avider and called Elm street.* It had two 
large windows on each side, and one smaller one at 
each end; one large door on the southerl}' side, and 
two smaller ones ; it had a shingled roof — a rare 
thing in that day — and two turrets, one designed for 
a bell, the other for a watch tower. Among the peo- 
ple to whom Mr. Moxon ministered and whose confi- 
dence he enjoyed, there were some eminent not only 

*Appendix B. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. , 9 

for their piet}^, but for their inteUigence. WiUiam 
Pynchon and his son John Pynchon, his two sons-in- 
law, Henry Smith and Ehznr Holjoke, and the two 
deacons of the church, Samuel Chapin and Samuel 
Wright, were all men of more than ordinary capacity, 
capable of conducting the worship of the sanctuary 
or the municipal concerns of the town. In those 
days there was accorded to the clergyman, as inci- 
dent to his office, a degree of respect and considera- 
tion, amounting almost to reverence, rarely mani- 
fested at present, 

I find recorded in the private record, whicli William 
Pj-nchon kept of various matters that came under his 
cognizance as a magistrate, an entry in his hand un- 
der date of September 24, 1640, of a trial before him, 
and a jury of six men, which is interesting, not only 
as illustrating the primitive character of litigation in 
those days in this remote settlement, but as also 
showing the kind of supervision, which the minister 
exercised over his people. It seems that John Wood- 
cock, one of the early settlers, of a litigious turn, 
had a controversy with Heniy Gregory, another early 
settler, about some hogs, and had brought two suits 
a2:ainst Greg^orv to recover damao-es. The two cases 
Avere tried before Mr. Pynchon and a jury of six, 
comprising Deacon Samuel Wright and five other 
respectable inhabitants. The jury rendered a verdict 
against Gregory in each action for some 20 shillings 
and costs. The record says, " Henry Gregory, after 
the verdict, was much moved and said : ' I marvel with 
what conscience the jury can give such damages; 
seeinG:e in the case of John Searles I had of him but 
twenty shillings for three slanders ; and he added, but 



10 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

such juries — ' He was about to speake more, but 
Mr. Moxon bid hiui ' take heed, take heed,' and so gave 
him a grave admonition. Presently, after the admo- 
nition, Henry Gregory acknowledged his fault and 
earnestly craved pardon, and jDromised more care and 
w\atchfulness for tyme to come ; and so all the jury 
acknowledged satisfaction in hope of reformation." 

It was not always in the character of a spectator, 
or to give grave admonitions to unsuccessful but irri- 
tated litigants, that Mr. Moxon attended these prim- 
itive courts. He w\as himself at one time an inter- 
ested party, seeking to vindicate his own good name 
from the aspersions of a slanderer. It was on this 
wise : The same John Woodcock had had a lawsuit 
at Hartford, in which Mr. Moxon was a witness against 
him. Probably Woodcock was defeated in this Hart- 
ford suit, and, being an unprincipled fellow, sought 
his revenge by circulating a report that the minister 
had taken a false oath. This produced a decided sen- 
sation among the good people of this plantation of 
Agawam, as Springfield was then called. AYoodcock 
was summoned by warrant to appear before Mr. Pyn- 
chon, the magistrate, to answer for this slander. 
Desirous, if possible, to avoid a trial before a jury of 
their neighbors, to wdiom they were both well known, 
he " desyred," as the old Pynchon record states, 
" that this difference might be tried by a private hear- 
inge below in the River — ," meaning at Windsor or 
Hartford, these being then the nearest settlements 
down the river. Mr. Moxon, continues the record, 
"referred himself to the judgment of y'' plantation 
present whether it were fitter to be heard by a private 
refference below in the river, or tryed here publicity 



HISTOKICAL ADDRESS. 11 

by a Jury. The general voat of the plantation is 
that, seeing the matter is publik, it should be publikly 
herd and tr3^ed here by a Jury. Liberty is granted 
to John Woodcocke to produce his witnesses against 
this day fortnight being the 26 of December. Also 
at the said tyme Jo. Woodcocke is warned to answer 
for his lauiz:hin2;:e in sermon tyme : this dav at the 
Lecture. Also he is then to answer for his misde- 
menor of idlenesse." The trial of this important suit 
was afterwards deferred to the 2nd of January, at 
which time, Mr. Moxon produced the testimony of 
five witnesses, and the jury rendered a verdict in his 
favor for £Q 13s. id. 

In the absence of any church records, there exist 
no materials for a biographj^ of the first minister of 
this church for the next eleven years. It may fairly be 
presumed that he was engaged during this period in 
the ordinary duties of a pastor, enjoying the respect 
of his people, sharing in their joys and sympathizing 
in their sorrows, preaching to them on the Sabbath, 
morning and afternoon, besides delivering the usual 
lecture every Thursday, at half-past ten in the fore- 
noon. In addition to the family which he brought 
with him, when he first came here, he had three chil- 
dren born to him here — all sons. He had certainly 
three older children, one a son, bearing his father's 
Christian name, and following his father's vocation 
afterwards in England. There were also two daugh- 
ters, Martha and Rebeckah. These two girls passed 
through an experience that was remarkable even in 
their day, and appears stranger still to us. In fact 
they became the early, if not the very first victims, 
as was supposed, of that delusion which for a time 



12 ■ HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

created an intense excitement in the Massachnsetts 
colony, and culminated in the most fearful tragedies, 
connected with the famous Salem witchcraft. One 
Mary Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons, who lived quite 
at the south end of Main street, was suspected of 
having bewitched these two girls. She had killed her 
own child, and was probably deranged. Her strange 
conduct was ascribed to her familiarity with the evil 
one, and some disorders, real or imaginary, with 
which Mr. Moxon's daughters were afflicted, were im- 
puted, in accordance with the prevailing superstition, 
to Mary Parsons, as an agent of the devil. She was 
accordingly connnitted to prison, charged with witch- 
craft and the murder of her own child ; for both 
which offences she was tried before the General Court 
at Boston. I find this trial recorded in the Colony 
records under date of 13th May, 16-51, in these words: 
" Mary Parsons, wife to Hugh Parsons of Springfield, 
being committed to prison for suspition of witchcraft, 
as also for murdering her owne child, was this day 
called forth and indited for witchcraft." Then fol- 
lows the indictment : " By the name of Mary Parsons, 
you are heere before the Gennerall Court, charged, in 
the name of the Commonwealth, that, not having the 
feare of God before your eyes nor in your heart, be- 
ing seduced by the divill, and yeilding to his malitious 
motion, about the end of February last at Springfield, 
to have familliarity, or consulted with a familliar 
spirrit making a covenant ^vith him, and have used 
divers divilish practises by witchcraft, to the hurt of 
the persons of Martlia and Rebeckah Moxon, against 
the worde of God, and the lawes of this jurisdiction 
long since made and published." " To which indict- 



HISTOKICAL ADDRESS. 13 

ment she pleaded not guilty: all evidences bronglit in 
against liir being heard and examined, the Court found 
the evidences were not sufficient to proove hir a witch, 
and therefore she was cleered in that respect." 

What part Mr. Moxon took in this prosecution is 
not known. That he sympathized with his children 
in their sufferings, and believed in the reality of the 
demoniacal influence, to which the common super- 
stition of the times ascribed them, can hardly be 
doubted. It was a weakness that infected some of 
the strongest minds of that age. Probably he was a 
promoter, if not the originator of the prosecution of 
the supposed witch, and when that failed, and she 
was acquitted of the charge, it produced in his mind 
a discontent with his situation, which, concurring with 
the troubles, that had arisen between his friend, Mr. 
Pynchon, and the General Court, induced Mr. Moxon 
to accompany Pynchon to England in 1G52, taking 
his family with him. Thus ended his ministry here. 
A poet of that day has left to us the following tribute 
to Mr. Moxon's character, written shortly before his 
departure, in which may be detected an allusion to 
the peculiar domestic visitation, that made the last 
year of the minister's residence in Springfield so un- 
happy: 

"As thou with strong and able parts art made 
Thy person stout, with toyl, and labour shall 
With help of Christ, through difliculties wade. 
Then spend for him ; spare not thyself at all. 
When errors crowd close to thyself and friends, 
Take up truth's sword, trifle not time for why. 
Christ called his people hither for those ends 
To tell the world that Babel's fall is nigh. 
And that his chun^hes, through the world shall spread 
Maugre the might of wicked men and devils, 
Then Moxon, thou needst not at all to dread. 
But be avenged on Satan for his evils. 
Thy Lord Christ will under thy feet him tread." 



14 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

The departure of three such men as Wilham Pyn- 
chon, Henry Smith, his son-in-law, and Mr. Moxon, 
was a serious loss to the church and the town. There 
is a tradition, mentioned by Mr. Breck in his century 
sermon, that it came near to breaking up the settle- 
ment. But the shock, though severe, was not fatal. 
Neither the temporal nor the spiritual prosperity of 
this people suffered any permanent check. The wise 
leadership, that had been exercised by the elder Pyn- 
chon, was devolved upon his son John, then a young- 
man of twenty-six, of sterling qualities, who, through all 
that century and down to the time of his death, main- 
tained an influence, not only in Springfield, but in all 
this region, that justly entitled him to the appellation 
by which he is distinguished in the record, " the wor- 
shipful." Nor were the religious interests of the 
people neglected. The deacons, Chapin and Wright, 
with Elizur Holyoke, son-in-law of William Pynchon, 
were pious and capable men, and the people gathered 
in their sanctuary, as they had been accustomed to 
do before, to hear the word of God expounded by 
them. In February, 1653, less than five months after 
Mr. Moxon's departure, Rev. William Ilosford was 
preaching here as a supply. Precisely when his la- 
bors here began, and when they ended, is not known. 
His stay did not exceed one year at the longest. He 
was succeeded by Rev. William Thompson, who grad- 
,uated at Harvard College in 1653, and is supposed to 
have been the son of a minister of the same name at 
Brain tree. He was here in November, 1655. On the 
15th of that month, the town records say, "At a 
town meeting, it was voted and concluded y* Mr. 
Thompson, during his continuance a preaching min- 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 15 

ister in Springfield, shall possess and enjoy y® Towne 
house lot and housing * * * * which formerly y^ 
towne bought of Mr. Moxon." "As also they intend 
by y® help of God to continue Mr. Thompson's main- 
tenance £50 pr annum and to give him a parcel of 
ground by reason of the inability of y^ towne to in- 
crease his maintenance." 

This, although perhaps a liljeral salary for those 
days, did not insure Mr. Thompson's " continuance as 
a preaching minister" for a very long period. He 
left his people under such circumstances as led the 
town, on the 24th March, 1656, to pass the following 
vote to provide for the supply of its spiritual needs: 
"It is agreed by joynt consideration of y^ Plantation 
that seeing Mr. Thompson hath deserted this Planta- 
tion and soe we are left destitute in respect of any 
ministry of y® word for continuance, that therefore 
these persons under written shall take counsel among 
themselves what course may be taken for a supply in 
y® work, and that they shall take that course that to 
them shall seem good by sending abroad for advice in 
this matter ; and soe accordingly they shall give in- 
formation to the town w' they have done or think 
convenient to be done. The persons hereunto chosen 
are Mr. Pynchon, Deacon Chapin, George Colton, 
Benjamin Cooley, Deacon Wright and Elizur Hol- 
yoke." "It was further voted and agreed," continues 
the record, " that whereas yesterday being the Lord's 
day Deacon Wright w^as chosen to dispense the word 
of God in this place till some other should be gott for 
y' worke, y' deacon Wright shall have for his labor in 
y* employment 50'*' y® month for such tyme as he at- 
tends on y*" said work." 



16 IIlSTOPvICAL ADDRESS. 

Good Deacon Wright, who had settled here m 1639, 
and had been one of the deacons of this church 
through all the subsequent years of Mr. Moxon's 
ministry, did not continue long to " dispense the 
word " in Springfield. Soon after the passage of this 
vote, he emigrated with his family to Northampton, 
Avhere, on the 17th of October, 1665, he died, as the 
record says, '• when asleep in his chair." Deprived of 
the ministrations of Deacon AVright by his removal to 
another field of usefulness, the town voted in Febru- 
ary, 1657, " that Mr. Hollyock and Henry Burt should 
carry on the w^ork of the Sabbath in this place, but 
in case that through any providence of God either of 
them should be disenabled that decon Chapin should 
supply that present vacancy." A little later, in No- 
vember, 1657, the record says, "Mr. Holyoke is made 
choise of to carry on y" work of y^ Sabbath once 
every Sabbath day which he accepts of. Mr. Pyn- 
chon is made choise of for one part of y*" day once 
a fortnidit w^'^ he will endeavor to in tvme by reading 
notes and somewhat of his owne meditations till 
March next. Deacon Chapin and Henry Burt are 
made choise of to carry on y'^ other p' of y*' day once 
a fortnight." 

However profitable, in a spiritual point of view, 
the labors of these intelligent laymen may have been, 
the church still aimed at securing the services of 
some " Godly and faithful minister," who should be- 
come its permanent pastor. Nor was it long before a 
young man was found whose ministrations were so 
acceptable, that the people with great unanimity ex- 
tended to him a call. This was Mr. Samuel Hooker, 
a son of Rev. Tbomas Hooker of Hartford, whom 



IIISTOIIICAL ADDRESS. 17 

Cotton Mather styles '^ the Light of the Western 
Churches and Pillar of Connecticut Colony." Mr. 
Hooker was first employed to supply the pul23it for a 
period of three months, with especial reference to his 
settlement. The record is very complimentary to the 
candidate. It reads as folloAvs : "At a Towne meet- 
ing Feb. V, 1658" (or 1659 according to the present 
division of the year) " There was a full and unani- 
mous acceptance of Mr. Hooker to dispense y® word 
of God to us and whereas he at present will not cer- 
tainly ingnge to us longer than 3 months. The 
Towne doe agree and ingage to give or allow him 
20-'^ pr y« sd. Three months & ^v'^' all manifest theire 
desires & hopes of his further continuance among us 
& being willing to continue y^ like further allowance 
upon his further continuance w^^ us. And Mr. Pyn- 
chon, Mr. Holyoke & Deacon Chapin were appointed 
to signifie y*" Towne's mind & desires to Mr. Hooker, 
who accordingly did it & Mr. Hooker manifested his 
willingness to help us three months as aforesaid & for 
y"" present could resolve noe further, but his coming 
to a resolution should take rise from this tyme." It 
is said of Mr. Hooker that he was " an animated and 
pious divine, an excellent preacher, his composition 
good, his address pathetic, warm, and engaging." In 
preparing his sermons, as he told a friend, he made 
it a rule to do three things, " write them, commit them 
unto his memory, and get them into his heart." But 
in the providence of God, Mr. Hooker was not to be 
the pastor of this church. For reasons which do not 
appear, he preferred another field of labor, and went 
to Farmington, Conn., where he was installed pastor 
of that church, in July, 1661. 



18 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

The summer of IGoO found this church still with- 
out a pastor. Seven years had elapsed since the de- 
13arture of Mr. Moxon, and all the efforts of the peo- 
ple to secure a settled ministry had proved abortive. 
It cannot be doubted, however, that Avitli every new 
failure, they recurred to their well-qualified laymen, 
and that the word of God was " dispensed " and the 
work of the Sabbath '• carried on " as before. Ac- 
cording; to Mr. Breck, Mr. Pelatiah Glover was here 
early in July, 16-59, and preached his first sermon, 
July 3, from Jer. 4:14. He Avas at first engaged for 
one year, but afterwards accepted a more permanent 
relation. According to that learned anticpiary, James 
Savage, Mr. Glover was ordained as the second min- 
ister of Sj3ringfield, June 18, 16G1. But as the town, 
as early as December 12, IGGO, made provision for 
his maintenance here, as for its settled minister, as- 
signing to him the use of the ministry house and 
land, and stipulating for his support the payment of 
a yearly salary of £80, to commence from the 21)th of 
September, 1660, to this last date perhaps his settle- 
ment should be referred. Mr. Glover was the son 
of John Glover, an early and proniiuent settler of 
Dorchester. He received his education at Harvard 
Colleo-e, but did not take his deo;ree there. He was 
not far from twenty-four years of age, when he com- 
menced his labors as the minister of this town. He 
was settled, as all ministers then and for many years 
afterwards were settled, for life, and for more than 
thirty years he performed here the duties of the pas- 
toral office. There now exist no materials for a per- 
sonal biography of Mr. Glover or a detailed history of 
the church, while he was its minister. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 19 

There were some stirring events during this period, 
events the like of which have never been witnessed 
here during the ministry of any other man. It was 
a day of terror and trouble, when, on the fifth of Oc- 
tober, 1675, old style, the Springfield Indians, till then 
peaceful and friendl}^, having admitted to their fort 
on Long Hill, a body of King Philip's hostile Indians, 
united with them in a sudden and murderous attack 
upon this settlement. Notified by a messenger from 
Windsor, who arrived at midnight, that this place was 
to be attacked, most of the inhabitants fled to the for- 
tified houses, but, seeing no immediate movement, the 
first alarm had partially subsided, and some had re- 
turned to their own houses. Of this number w\as Mr. 
Glover, who had moved his family and his " brave " 
library, as Hubbard calls it, to a place of safety, but, 
deeming the alarm groundless and ^' being impatient 
for want of his books," had moved the latter back 
again to his own house. Comparatively few of the 
settlers lost their lives, but the destruction of build- 
ings and property was great. About thirty houses and 
twenty-five barns, with their contents, were burned. 
The house of Mr. Glover watli his valuable library was 
consumed. The meeting-house, which w^as fortified, 
escaped the conflagration. Great distress j^revailed. 
The people were discouraged, and entertained the 
idea of abandoniniz; the settlement altosrether, as too 
much exposed to the incursions of the savages. 
Some actually left, but the greater part of the inhab- 
itants, encouraged by the sympathy and aid of the 
colonial government, and trusting in the care of an 
overrullno; Providence, determined to hold on. A let- 
ter of John Pynchon to his son, then in England, writ- 



20 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

ten about two weeks after this calamity, breathes a 
spirit of fervent piety and submission to the Divine 
wilL Jonathan Burt, then or soon after a deacon of 
the church, in a brief narrative of the facts entered 
upon a fly-leaf of the records which is signed "Jon- 
athan Burt an eye witness of the same," recognizes 
devoutly the good providence of God in preserving 
the lives of the people. 

An event, of importance to the church, that oc- 
curred a few days after the burning of the town, was 
the death of Deacon Samuel Chapin, Avhicli took 
place on the 11th of November of the same year. 
From a very early period, he had been one of the 
deacons of this church, one of its most useful and in- 
fluential members. Savage -calls him "a man of dis- 
tinction," and wdien we consider the responsible trusts 
reposed in him Ijy the church and the government, 
the appellation seems highly appropriate. He was not 
only associated with Mr. Pynchon in the administra- 
tion of the temporalities of the town, but he was one 
whom the church designated often to carry on the 
work of the Sabbath. The loss of such a man, occur- 
rino" as it did so soon after the o^reat calamity, must 
have been deeply felt. The deacons during the re- 
mainder of Mr. Glover's pastorate appear to have 
been Jonathan Burt, already named, and Benjamin 
Parsons. Deacon Parsons died in 1689, and was suc- 
ceeded in office by John Hitchcock. Deacons Burt 
and Hitchcock survived Mr. Glover more than twenty 
years. Hitchcock held the military office of ensign 
and lieutenant, in addition to that of deacon. He and 
Deacon Burt w^ere both men of some note. Both have 
representatives in this church among their descendants. 




^liiiiiii iaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiyiiiiiiiiiiiB^ 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 21 

Soon after the destruction of the town by the In- 
dians in 1675, the original meeting-house, which had 
escaped the flames, was taken down and a larger and 
more commodious structure erected further west, 
mostly if not wholly within the limits of what is now 
Court Square, very near its south-western angle. It 
was built in 1677. A very strong attachment sub- 
sisted between Mr. Glover and his people. In 1669, 
finding himself straitened in his means of living, on 
account of the smallness of his salary, 3^et aware of 
the inability of the people to increase it at that time, 
he addressed to them a communication in which he 
expressed his desire to remove to another field of la- 
bor on that account. 

To this the town, by the hand of Mr. Holyoke, sent 
the following reply : 

" S"" : — Wee are much affected with this sad provi- 
dence by this motion of yours for leaving us, and the 
rather beinge sensible of our general inability to in- 
crease your stipend at y® present by reasons of God's 
hand upon us by the Hood and blast, and at such a 
tyme as we have taken in hand the building of a house 
for you, which through the help of God we shall goe 
on with, the cost whereof will be neere one hundred 
pounds to us, besides the £80 of y"" stipend w^^' by the 
Lord's assistance wee shall endeavour punctually to 
present and make good in y° best manner we can, not- 
withstanding all the difticultys of the yeare w^^' doe 
retard our doing further or more at present ; but yet 
if the Lord enable us, we shall for future accordino; as 
Y needs call for it, enlarge and doe to our utmost 
ability, and that according as God shall bless us; that 
soe you may live honorably and without distraction 



22 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

in your emploj^ment. And we intreat your accept- 
ance of these our synsere intentions, and the mani- 
festations of your love and affections to us by y' cheer- 
ful foiuf'- on in y'" ministerial work in this place which 
wo take soe much content in and cannot neither dare 
quitt our interest in, but must according to God hold 
it fast to our utmost, all words of parting being like 
darts, forbid the thoughts of change. 

Elizuk Holtoke, Recorder, in the name 
and by y® appoyntment of the lown. 
Springfield, month 4, 18th, 1669." 

In re^'-ard to the character of Mr. Gloyer as the 
pastor of this church and people, Hubbard, a contem- 
porary historian, sa3's : " lie was a great student and 
much giyen to books," and Breck adds, " he liyed in 
great harmony with our fathers and highly esteemed." 
John Pynchon, who knew him better and more in- 
timately than either of them, and whose judgment 
was unsurpassed, in his private book of records calls 
him " the Reverend Teacher of y® church of Spring- 
field," ^' a faithful minister of the gospell and teacher 
of y'' church of Springfield." This is surely high 
commendation for this servant of God. It needs no 
expansion or addition. But there is a touching ex- 
pression in the entry upon our public record of his 
death, which must not be omitted. It is in these 
' words : " The Reverend Mr. Peletiah Glover fell 
asleep in Jesus, March 29, 1692." To him may well 
be applied the words of the hymn — 

" Asleep in Jesus! blessed sleep! 
From which none e%'er wakes to weep; 
A calm and undisturbed repose, 
Unbroken by the last of foes." 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 23 

It is not strange that, after the death of their re- 
vered pastor, Mr. Glover, his people should have 
sought for his snecessor, one who was nearly allied to 
him. Accordingly, Mr. John Ilaynes, who became 
the husliand of Mr. Glover's youngest daughter Mar}^, 
soon after her father's death, was invited to fill the 
vacant pastorate ; but this call, although persistently 
urged, was unsuccessful. A spiritual teacher and 
guide was, however, soon found, as the record reads. 
The town " voted to send Captain Thomas Colton and 
Sergeant Luke Hitchcock to the Bay for the procur- 
ing a minister to preach the word of God to this town ; 
and that they apply themselves to the Rev'd the Pres- 
ident of the College, with the rest of the elders in 
Boston, for their help for the obtaining a minister 
that may promote conversion work among us." These 
men of war, on this their mission of peace, were suc- 
cessful. Mr. Daniel Brewer, a native of Roxbury, a 
graduate at Harvard College of the year 1687, came 
here in response to this appeal. The town voted to 
give him " an invitation to carry on the work of the 
Gospel in this place," and offered him a salary of £80 
and the use of the ministry land. The committee by 
whom this call was commimicated to Mr. Brewer, in 
their report say that he answered that, '' j^rovided we 
were unanimous, he was inclinable to compliance with 
the town's proffer, an'd in order to continuance with 
us, if he shall further find God leadina^ him to doe 
so." And thereupon '' Col. John Pynchon, Esq., and 
Deacon Jonathan Burt were appointed to declare to 
Mr. Daniel Brewer the towns good resentment of Mr. 
Daniel Brewer his answer to the towns invitation, 
and to give him thanks for the same." With a can- 



24 IllSTOKlCAL ADDRESS. 

diclate thus ^•inclinable to compliance," and this "good 
resentment " on the part of the people, a settlement 
was sm^e to come, and on the 16th day of May, 1694, 
Mr. Daniel Brewer was ordained minister of this 
church and people. He was at the time of his ordi- 
nation twenty-five years of age, and unmarried. About 
five years afterwards he married Catherine Chauncey. 
From this union sprung all of the name of Brewer in 
this town and vicinity, including two deacons cf the 
church, one of whom united in his person both these 
names. Rev. Daniel Brewer's ministry here continued 
till his death, on the oth November, 1733, nearly forty 
years. Of the personal traits of Mr. Brewer, of the 
style of his preaching, and of the nature and extent 
of his pastoral work, less is probably known than in 
regard to either of the ministers who preceded or 
who have followed him. The town records of that 
period are meager in relation to all parochial matters, 
with a single exception, and the church records, if any 
ever existed, have long been lost.* 

Compared with the stirring times of Mr. Glover's 
ministry, this was a time of quiet and growth. The 
settlers, at first limited to a narrow space, had now 
spread themselves in every direction, and laid the 
foundation of new parishes, soon to require each their 
own separate pastors. This condition of things led to 
the most important event, of which the records take 
any notice during Mr. Brewer's ministry, to wit : the 
formation of a new parish on the west side of the 
river, and the subsequent, although not immediate, 
separation of this first parish from the town, which 
had before transacted both municipal and parochial 

*Ai)penclix C. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 25 

affairs under one and the same organization. There 
had been for some years a feehng among the settlers 
on the west side of the river, that they were subjected 
to pecuhar inconveniences, if not dangers, in being 
obhged to cross the river to attend pubhc worship on 
this side. As early as May, 1674, they had brought 
before the town this subject, and a committee was ap- 
jDointed to consider the propriety of the town's fur- 
nishing, at the common charge, a boat to convey them 
across the river, to attend worship on the Sabbath 
and other public occasions. There is a tradition that 
several j^ersons had lost their lives in attempts to 
cross.* 

In the year 1695, the people on the west side of 
the river presented to the General Court at Boston 
their petition for leave to procure a minister for that 
part of the town. Those living on this side did not 
feel w^illing to part with so large and substantial a 
l^art of the ecclesiastical body, and, being a majority, 
they passed a vote in town meeting that " some- 
thing " should be drawn up to send to the General 
Court to answer this petition of their " neighjjors on 
the west side of the great river," and they appointed 
Dea. Burt and Lieut. Abel Wright to draw up this 
"something." At a subsequent meeting in May, 
1696, Serg. Luke Hitchcock was chosen the agent 
of the town to " give in reasons and objections " 
against said petition ; and, that there might be a good 
understanding and unanimity of sentiment on this 
important question among the dwellers on the east 
side, a committee was appointed to meet the people 
at the school-house and acquaint them with the objec- 

*Appendix D. 



26 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

tions. Whatever may have been the objections, they 
were unavaihng against the petition from the west 
side of the river. Tlie petition was granted by the 
General Conrt, and a second parish or precinct estab- 
lished in what is now West Springfield, in 1696, over 
which the Rev. John Woodbridge was ordained pastor 
in 1698. The creation of a new parish legally dis- 
solved the relation of the town to the old parish. 
They were no longer identical organizations. The 
inhabitants of the town, as such, could not properly 
transact the business of the original parish as they 
had heretofore done in town meetings. But this was 
not at once realized. The town books continued for 
some time to record the transactions of the first par- 
ish. The meetings, however, purport to have been of 
" the inhabitants of Springfield on the east side of the 
river;" and when soon afterwards a third parish was 
created in what is now Lon2:meadow, the stvle was 
further changed, and the record reads : " At a meet- 
ing of the inhabitants of the town on tlie east side 
of the river, the precinct of Longmeadow excluded," 
it was voted, etc. The latest record of this kind upon 
our town records is under date of January 1, 1717. 
The oldest parish record (properly so called) begins 
August 7, 1734, after the death of Mr. Brewer and 
the ordination of his successor. The earliest church 
record now in existence bears date January 1, 1736, 
and is, with one or two exceptions, merely a record 
kept by the pastors of admissions to the church, mar- 
riages, baptisms and deaths. 

At the time of Mr. Brewer's ordination in 1694, 
one of the deacons of the church was Jonathan Burt, 
who had served in that capacity under the ministry 



IIISTOPJCAL ADDKESS. 27 

of Mr. Glover. He undoubtedly continued in that 
office until his death, October 19, 1715, at an advanced 
age. He was a man of some prominence, and served' 
for a time as clerk of the town. Another deacon in 
the early part of Mr. Brewer's ministry w^as John 
Hitchcock, already named, who held various civil and 
military offices, and at one time represented the town 
in the General Court. I have been unable to ascer- 
tain precisely at what time he was chosen deacon, but 
probably it was soon after the death of Dea. Par- 
sons in 1G89. He certainly held the office in 1704, and 
down to the time of his death, Fel)ruary 9, 1712. The 
successors of Deacons Burt and Hitchcock w^ere 
James Warriner and Nathaniel Munn. Dea. Warriner 
died May 14, 1727, before the close of Mr. Brewer's 
ministry. Dea. Munn survived Mr. Brewer about 
ten years, and served in that office under his successor 
till the last day of December, 1743, when he died at 
the age of eighty-two. Before the close of Mr. 
Brewer's pastorate, the deaconship passed again into 
the Burt family, in the person of Henry Burt, son of 
Dea. Jonathan. 

The harmony which had subsisted in this church 
and parish during the ministry of Mr. Brewer was 
destined soon to a serious interruption. The settle- 
ment of a successor was attended with unusual diffi- 
culties, and produced an excitement not only here, 
but very extensively throughout this region. In May, 
1734, Mr. Robert Breck, a young man then not quite 
twenty-one years of age, a son of Rev. Robert Breck, of 
Marlboro, Mass., was invited to preach here with refer- 
ence to a settlement. He had graduated at Cambridge 
in 1730, at the early age of seventeen. Before he was 



28 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

invited here, lie had been preaching at Scotland, a par- 
ish of Windham, Ct. He preached his first sermon in 
Springfield, on the 26th of May, 1734. On the 30th 
of July following the church made choice of him for 
its pastor, and on the 7th of August the parish con- 
curred in this choice, and proposed to him terms of 
settlement, which, although at first declined for other 
reasons, were ultimately accepted. Soon after Mr. 
Breck commenced preaching here as a candidate, re- 
ports prejudicial to his character for orthodoxy began 
to be circulated in this town and among the neighbor- 
ing clergy. The authority for these reports was Rev. 
Thomas Clap, of Windham, afterwards President of 
Yale College. The effect of these rumors was to dis- 
affect a minority of the parish Avith Mr. Breck, and to 
create so strong an opposition among the ministers of 
this vicinity that, for the time, the project of his set- 
tlement was abandoned, and a call extended to Mr. 
Joseph Pynchon. This being declined, the attention 
of the church and parish was again directed to Mr. 
Breck, and he was again invited to preach as a can- 
didate. At the parish meeting in March, 1735, a com- 
mittee was appointed to wait on the reverend minis- 
ters of the county, at their next meeting in April, to 
get what information they could relating to the 
charges exhibited against Mr. Breck by the Rev. Mr. 
Clap and others, and to ascertain the sentiments of 
the ministers. It does not appear from the parish 
records that this committee ever made a report. 
Probably they never acted under their appointment. 
The opposition of so large and respectable a number 
of ministers as the association of the old County of 
Hampshire, did not deter this church and parish from 



HISTOEICAL ADDRESS. 29 

their purpose. With all their reverence for the cler- 
gy, they appreciated their own right as Congregation- 
alists to choose their own pastor, and their hearts 
were fully set upon Mr. Breck as the man. Accord- 
ingly the church, on the 17th April, 1735, formally 
renewed their call to him, and the parish, one week 
afterwards, concurred in the call. 

All his endeavors to remove the obstructions to his 
settlement having failed of success, Mr. Breck, on the 
28th of July, 1735, in a letter which is recorded at 
length in the parish records, accepted the call.* 

Arrano-ements were made for his ordination on the 
14th of October following. On that day a council as- 
sembled for this purpose, consisting of seven clergy- 
men, namely, Messrs. Chauncey of Hadley, Devotion of 
Sufheld, Rand of Sunderland, Cook of Sudbury, and 
Cooper, Welstead and Mather of Boston, with their 
delegates. Then ensued a scene, such perhaps as never 
occurred in an ecclesiastical council in New England 
before or since. In the midst of its deliberations, a 
civil officer entered the council armed with a warrant 
from a magistrate, arrested Mr. Breck, and carried, or 
attempted to carry him off to Connecticut, " there to 
answer to such things as should be objected against 
him." I am not able to state the precise nature of 
this charge made against him. I have an impression, 
however, that it was for some heretical opinions which 
he was accused of having uttered or published, while 
he was preaching in that State. It was undoubtedly 
a charge that had been trumped up for the purpose 
of preventing his ordination here. It served the pur- 
pose for the time being, but not long. The church 

*Appeii(lix E. 



30 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

and parish were justly indignant at this flagrant at- 
tempt to deprive them of their chosen pastor. At a 
meetino" of the church, held two weeks afterwards, 
two of its leading members were appointed to go to 
Boston, and present to the General Assembly of the 
Province the remonstrance of this church and precinct 
against these proceedings, and to assert the rights and 
privileges of the church and parish to choose their 
own minister and have a council ordain him. The 
result was that the council w^as again convened, and 
Mr. Breck ordained on the 27th of January, 1736. 
Rev. Dr. Cooper, of Boston, preached the ordination 
sermon, which was published. 

The opposition to Mr. Breck in his own church and 
parish, did not at once subside after his settlement. 
A few leading men, who had failed to secure his re- 
jection by the ecclesiastical council, appear to have 
been guilty of the folly of seeking to defeat his set- 
tlement by an appeal to a legal tribunal. It was in 
this way: A provinci+al statute made it obligatory 
upon every parish to be provided with an Orthodox 
minister, under penalty of being liable to a prosecu- 
tion for non-compliance. Complaint was made that 
the parish was not provided with such an Orthodox 
minister, and a summons was served upon it to appear 
before the Court of General Sessions of the Peace 
for the County of Hampshire, to answer to this com- 
plaint. The parish appointed a committee of five to 
represent and defend the parish, authorizing them 
"by all ways and means, with the best advice, that 
may be had in the law, to answer to this complaint, 
and at the charge of the Precinct to appear, defend, 
and pursue the said cause from Court to Court, and 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



oi 



to carry the same before any proper authority what- 
soever, and where they may thhik it necessary in 
order to a final issue and determination of the matter. 
And that they have power to prosecute and defend as 
aforesaid, in any cause or action that may arise by the 
virtue of the said compLaint or controversy, or in the 
management thereof." AViUiam Pynchon, Senior, (a 
great-grandson of the first Pynchon,) was made chair- 
man of this committee. As there is no further refer- 
ence to this matter in the parish record, it is probable 
that "the Court of General Sessions of the Peace" 
never actually adjudicated this delicate question of 
the orthodoxy of the Springfield minister. Subse- 
quent events rendered it unnecessary. 

The severe ordeal, through which Mr. Breck passed 
at the commencement of his ministry here, undoubt- 
edly exerted a very favorable influence upon his 
character. If he had been rash and imprudent before 
he w^as ordained, he was prudent and discreet after- 
wards. By his careful and conciliatory course, he 
soon disarmed all opposition among his own people, 
and established himself firmly in their confidence and 
affection. One of the first measures, adopted Ijy him 
to ingratiate himself with his flock, was prompted 
probaljly more by his heart than by his head. With- 
in a few weeks after his ordination, he took to wife 
Eunice Brewer, the daughter of his predecessor, with 
wdiose widowed mother he had boarded, while preach- 
ing as a candidate. Another method, that he adopted 
to conciliate his opponents in the parish was this, 
which proved to be quite effectual. If he wished any 
favor, he would be careful to ask it of some one of 
his people, whom he had reason to believe unfriendly, 



32 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

rather than of those, regarded as his staunch sup- 
porters. This expression of his confidence in them, 
soon won their confidence in him, and in a short time 
harmonj and mutual regard marlved all their inter- 
course. He was a man of uncommon talents. Dr. 
Lathrop of West Springfield, who studied theol- 
ogy with Mr. Breck, says of him: "His intellectual 
powers, which were naturally superior, were bright- 
ened by his education, and enlarged by an extensive 
acquaintance with men and books. As he accus- 
tomed himself to a close manner of thinking and rea- 
soning, and filled up his time with diligent applica- 
tion, so he acquired a rich furniture of the most use- 
ful knowledge." "He was easy of access, given to 
hospitality, faithful in his friendships, tender and at- 
tentive in all domestic relations, compassionate to the 
distressed, and a lover of mankind. In a word, he 
was an accomplished gentleman and exemplary Chris- 
tian." Mr. Breck entered upon his ministry with a 
church of sixty-seven members — thirty-two male 
and thirty-five female members. Nathaniel Munn 
and Henry Burt were the deacons. In the course of 
his ministry of forty-eight years, there were admitted 
to full communion, by letter and by profession, three 
hundred and thirty-one. 

Dea. Munn died on the last day of December, 
1743, at the age of eighty- two, and Dea. Henry Burt, 
about five years later (December 11, 1718), at the 
age of eighty-five. Cotemporary with them, during 
the latter part of their lives, was Dea. Nathaniel 
Brewer, a son of the former minister, and brother-in- 
law of Mr. Breck. He was by trade a carpenter, and 
much employed as such in the repairs of the meetiug- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 33 

house, and the house owned by the parish and occu- 
pied by the minister. He appears to have been a 
man highly respected in the church and parish. He 
survived Mr. Breck, and died on the 8th of March, 
1796, at the age of eighty-five years. Jonathan 
Church was a deacon early in the ministry of Mr. 
Breck. He is mentioned in that capacity in May, 
1747. He was admitted from the church in Lonsc- 
meadow, March 3, 1742, and died October 27, 1761. 
Josiah D wight united with this church by letter from 
the church in Hatfield, September 25, 1743, and was 
afterwards chosen a deacon. The date of the choice 
is not stated. He is more frequently mentioned in 
the records by his military title of Colonel, and his 
civil title of Esquire. He died September 28, 1768, 
aged fifty-two years. Probably he was elected after 
the death of Dea. Church, and if so, his term of of- 
fice was comparatively brief. Daniel Harris joined 
the church by profession, February 24, 1765. He 
was a deacon of the church certainly as early as 
March, 1773, as he is so called in connection with 
his election at that time as parish assessor. He had 
previously served several years as parish clerk. He 
was one of three deacons who, after the death of 
Mr. Breck, took an active part in extending a call to 
his successor. Dea. Harris died on the 22d of June, 
1785, at the age of fifty-three. Moses Bliss was ad- 
mitted to the church, October 13, 1754, being then a 
student at Yale College. There is no record of his 
election as deacon. In fact, there is none of any 
election to that office at so early a period. But he is 
spoken of as a deacon in August, 1780, when his daugh- 
ter was baptized. He continued to hold the office un- 
3 



34 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

til his death, on the 3d of Jul}', 1814, at the age of 
seventy-nine j'ears. He was by profession a lawj^er, 
and was for many years a judge of the local Court in 
the old county of Hampshire. 

The first record of the church now extant is one 
kept by Mr. Breck. With the exception of two or 
three cases of discipline, the entries in it are only of 
admissions to the church, baptisms, marriages, and 
deaths. In a female hand, perhaps of his wife or 
daughter, is entered under date of April 23, 1784, 
''Died the Rev*^ Rob* Breck, Pastor of the First church 
in Springfield in the TP*" ^^ear of his age and 49'^ of 
his ministry." At his funeral a sermon was preached 
by Dr. Lathrop, from II. Timothy, 4th chapter, 6th, 7th 
and 8th verses. It appears that, as early as the min- 
istry of Mr. Breck, the church made use of two forms 
of covenant, one for the admission of members to 
full communion, and the other entitling those assent- 
ing to it to baptism for theuiselves and their children, 
but not to membership. This last has been frequently 
called "The half-way covenant." The records indi- 
cate that no use was made of this covenant later than 
the year 1795.*" The other continued in use down 
to the time of the adoption of the present covenant 
in 1821. An important event during the ministry of 
Mr. Breck was the buildino; of a new meetino'-house. 
The parish passed the vote to build it in April, 1749. 
It was erected the same year, or the year following, 
so far as to be ready for use, although not entirely 
finished until 1752. It was 60 feet long by 46 wide, 
and 26 feet high between joints. This house, the 
third built, was the immediate predecessor of the 

*AppeiKlix F. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. OO 

present meeting-house, and stood directly east of the 
ground now occupied. The principal entrance was 
on the east side, but there was also an entrance 
through the tower. Some of our older inhabitants 
remember well this house, with its high pulpit and 
square pews. There are two or three cases of disci- 
pline recorded, which occurred during Mr. Breck's 
pastorate. One of these is somewhat singular in its 
facts, and interesting as a jirecedent. A written com- 
plaint against a rather prominent, but very eccentric, 
member was presented to the church, charging him 
with disturbing the devotions of his fellow Christians 
on the Lord's day, and interrupting the public wor- 
ship of God, by reading aloud, while they were sing- 
ing his praise. After prayer for the di'v^ne direction, 
the church found him guilty, and voted to dehar him 
from Christian privileges till gospel satisfaction should 
be made. Eighteen months afterwards, the offending 
member desired an opportunity to confer with the 
church, and proposed the question whether his con- 
fession would be accepted, if made to the church, in 
the absence of the congregation. The church voted 
to adhere to their ancient practice of receiving con- 
fessions of public offences only before the congrega- 
tion. Six months more passed, and the member re- 
newed his proposal to present his confession before 
the church only. After prayer and consultation, the 
church decided to comply with his request, provided 
that the confession should afterwards be read to the 
congregation by the pastor. After another interval 
of six or eight months this course was adopted, and 
the offender "restored to charity." 

On the 8th day of November, 1784, the church 



36 HISTORICxiL ADDRESS. 

" voted unanimously to choose Mr. Bezaleel Howard 
j;o be tlieir minister. On the same day the parish 
voted to concur in this choice, and to offer Mr. How- 
ard one hun(h'ed and fifty pounds for a settlement, 
and one hundred , pounds lawful silver money annu- 
ally for his salary, together with the use and improve- 
ment of the parsonage house and lands, so long as 
he should continue in the office of a gospel minister." 
The answer of Mr. Howard, accepting this call, was 
communicated on the 27th January, 1785. In the 
closing paragraph he writes : " In regard to tempo- 
ralities, the offers you have made for my support, I 
believe, for the present, are generous and sufficient ; 
but should any future change of times render them 
inadequate to that purpose, 'tis the condition of my 
acce^otance that you make such additions as may be 
necessary for my comfortable subsistence among you. 
That kindness and respect which you showed your 
former pastor, and that happy unanimity which at 
present subsists among you, alt'ord me the most pleas- 
ing prospect of spending my life in a very agreeable 
and useful manner among you." The satisfaction 
with w^hich the new pastor looked forward to his fu- 
ture residence in Springfield was strongly in contrast 
with his first impressions of the place. He came here 
at first an entire stranger to the village and its inhab- 
itants, sent by the president of his college, to supply 
the vacant pulpit for six Sabbaths. His journey was 
on horseback. The road was solitary, and the ap- 
proach to the town from the east far from attractive. 
He rode down the hill to the main street, then the only 
settlement, and looked up and down the street. The 
buildings were mostly unpainted, and man}' of them 




Tftt^ ai4.iiuAi.Zt,/T ^ Spnfi^^fU.Mi^ 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 37 

dilapidated. The aspect was chilling to the young 
minister, and he said to himself that the day when the 
six weeks of his engagement should be ended, would 
be a happy day to him. Directly opposite the road 
by which he entered the village, he saw one white 
house of a more cheerful aspect. At the door of this 
mansion he presented himself, and announced his 
name and errand. " You have come to the right 
place," replied the proprietor, and at once extended 
to hhn the hospitalities of his house. The six weeks 
were spent pleasantly. The call to settle followed, 
and in that white house the 3^oung pastor found his 
future wife. It was to him indeed " the right place." 
Mr. Howard was a native of Bridgewater, a graduate 
of Harvard College in 1781, where he w^as afterwards 
a tutor, and was ordained pastor of this church April 
27, 1785. The ordination sermon was preached by 
Rev. Timothy Hilliard, from Titus, 2d chapter, the last 
clause of the 15th verse. " Let no man despise thee." 
I have a printed copy of this discourse, from the title- 
page of which it appears that it was printed at 
" Springfield, Massachusetts," by " Stebbins and Rus- 
sell, at their office near the great Ferry." 

The condition in regard to increase of salary, con- 
tained in Mr. Howard's letter of acceptance, eventu- 
ally came to be of practical importance. In Novem- 
ber, 1795, the parish had under consideration the 
subject of making an addition to his salary, in conse- 
quence of the high price of the necessaries of life, and 
voted him thirty pounds. Two years afterwards he 
sent to the parish a memorial setting forth the losses 
sustained by him in the matter of interest, by the de- 
lays in the payment of his salary, and its depreciation 



38 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

in value. The parish appointed a committee of eleven, 
of which George Bliss was chairman, to consider this 
memorial. The committee afterwards reported a 
satisfactory arrangement of this difficulty, and at 
every annual meeting afterw^ards a committee was 
appointed " to confer wdth Rev. Mr. Howard and ascer- 
tain, as well as they can, what sum of money will be 
equivalent to his stated salary of one hundred pounds 
at the time of his settlement ;" and such a sum was 
regularly granted him for the purpose, not always, 
however, w^ithout opposition. 

In the year 1803, the health of Mr. Howard failed, 
and the parish was obliged to provide for the supply 
of the pulpit by other clergymen. His disability 
proved to be of a more serious and permanent charac- 
ter than was at first anticipated, and, at its meeting 
in April, 1805, a committee was appointed to confer 
W'ith him, and consider the expediency of dissolving 
his relation to the parish, and the terms upon which 
it should be done. At an adjourned meeting in May, 
1805, this committee, through their chairman, the 
Hon. John Hooker, reported that they had made an 
agreement wdth Mr. Howard, by which he was to be 
relieved from pastoral labor, relinquish all claim for his 
salary, and for the use of the parsonage house and 
lands, and was to be paid the sum of two thousand 
dollars in three annual installments. The pastoral re- 
lation, however, was to continue until the settlement 
of another minister, and then be dissolved without 
further terms or conditions. This agreement was 
duly confirmed by the parish ; and Mr. Howard con- 
tinued to be nominally the pastor of the church until 
the ordination of his successor in 1809. It would ap- 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 39 

pear from his record that he officiated at marriages, 
baptisms and funerals, but the services of the pulpit 
were performed by other clergymen. The ministry 
of Mr. Howard in this parish does not appear to have 
been an eventful one. His style of preaching is said 
to have been smooth and pleasing, rather adapted to 
instruct and comfort his people than to rouse them to 
energetic action. He was eminently a social man, 
gifted in conversation, and fond of exercising the gift. 
These qualities made him familiar with his people, 
without impairing the respect which they entertained 
for him. I have heard it said that in one of his ser- 
mons he quoted a passage from St. Paul with the 
words, " as the wise King of Israel said." One of his 
parishioners, who was in the habit of calling on his 
pastor frequently to discuss the subject of his dis- 
course, soon called to see him, and ralhed the minis- 
ter upon his mistaken quotation, with " I never knew 
before that St. Paul was a king, although I always 
thought he was fit to be one." Mr. Howard received 
the honorary degree of doctor of divinity from Har- 
vard College in 1824, and was usually spoken of as 
Dr. Howard in the later years of his life. He died 
in 1837, at his house on Elm street, close by the 
church, the same now owned and occupied by Mr. 
Henry Fuller. At the commencement of his ministry 
in 1785, the membership of the church was one hun- 
dred and seventeen. iVt the time of the settlement 
of his successor in 1809, it was not far from one hun- 
dred and seventy-seven, showing an increase of fifty 
in twenty-four years. 

The deacons, at the commencement of Mr. How- 
ard's ministry, as already stated, were Nathaniel 



40' HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

Brewer, Daniel Harris and Moses Bliss. The vacancy 
caused by the death of Dea. Harris, in 1785, was 
filled the same year by the election of William Pyn- 
chon, Esq., to that office. Mr. Pynchon was a lineal 
descendant from the original founder of Springfield 
and from his distinguished son, John Pynchon. He 
was for thirty years the parish clerk, and most of that 
time its treasurer. He also held the offices of town 
clerk and treasurer, and register of deeds. Ho died 
March 4, 1808, at the age of sixty-eight years. 
Chauncey Brewer, son of Dea. Nathaniel Brewer, 
and grandson of Rev. Daniel Brewer, was a deacon of 
the church during the pastorate of Mr. Howard. I 
have not been able to ascertain the date of his ap- 
pointment, as no record of any proceedings of the 
church was kept by Mr. Howard, except of admissions 
to the church. It is probable that he was elected to 
fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father in 
1796. He was a physician, and attained considerable 
eminence in his profession. He died in March, 1830, 
at the advanced age of eighty-seven. His venerable 
form is w^ell remembered, as he appeared Avhen he oc- 
cupied his pew on the Sabbath, on the south side of 
the pulpit, in the present meeting-house. 

On the 24tli of November, 1808, the church by a 
unanimous vote, invited Mr. Samuel Osgood to settle 
with them in the work of the gospel ministrj^, and 
Chauncey Brewer, George Bliss and John Hooker (then 
the deacons of the church in active service) were ap- 
pointed a committee to inform him of the vote. 
This call was given after he had preached here two 
Sabbaths, and, considering the fact that he was the 
thirty-seventh minister, who had been preaching here. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 41 

either as a candidate or a supply, since the resigna- 
tion of Dr. Howard, it was certainly a very compli- 
mentary vote. Mr. Osgood, or, as he is more fre- 
quently called, Dr. Osgood, was born at Fryburg, 
Me., February 3, 1784. He completed his studies pre- 
paratory to entering college under the instruction of 
Daniel Webster, who, in after years, was accustomed, 
whenever in this town on the Sabl^ath, to attend this 
church, and listen to the preaching of his former 
scholar and life-long friend. Dr. Osgood graduated 
at Dartmouth College in 1805, having joined his class 
during its junior year. He at first inclined to the 
law as a profession, and actually commenced the study 
in a lawyer's office. He soon, however, abandoned it, 
and commenced a theological course with Rev. Dr. 
Harris of Dorchester. He was licensed to preach in 
1806, and preached his first sermon in Roxbury; his 
second in Quincy, where he had for hearers Ex- Presi- 
dent John Adams, and his son, afterwards President 
John Quincy Adams. He soon after went to Prince- 
ton, where he completed his theological studies. Re- 
turning to Massachusetts, he was a candidate in three 
different places for settlement, including this, toward 
which the scale eventually turned. He was ordained 
here on the 25th of January, 1809. His former the- 
ological instructor, Dr. Harris, preached the sermon 
from I. Timothy 4: 10; Dr. Lathrop of West Spring- 
field gave the charge, and Rev. Ezra Witter of Wil- 
braham the right hand of fellowship. 

The ministry of Mr. Osgood commenced under 
most auspicious circumstances. He was then in the 
vigor of youthful manhood, with a constitution that 
gave promise of uniform health — a promise, that had 



42 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

a remarkable fulfillment for more than half a cen- 
tury of his after-life. His mental powers were solid 
and strong, rather than showy. He had a church of 
225 members. His parish (then territorial) embraced 
the whole population of the town, from Chicopee river 
on the north, to Longmeadow on the south, and from 
Will)raliani line on the east, to the Connecticut river, 
comprising al^out 2,200 souls. The officers of the 
church were men of fervent piety and cultured intel- 
lect, and held stations in the church and in the world 
of wide and commanding influence. One of them. 
Judge Moses Bliss, had reached an advanced age, 
which dis(|ualified him in a measure from the active 
duties of the deaconship. Dr. Chauncey Brewer, not 
yet threescore and ten, was still able to officiate at 
the Lord's table on communion Sabbaths, and to per- 
perform other services pertaining to the office. 

George Bliss and John Hooker, both men of large 
culture, high standing and influence, were then in the 
full vigor of middle life. Of the times of their elec- 
tion to the office of deacon the record makes no men- 
tion. But there can be no (juestion that they held 
the office at the very beginning of Mr. Osgood's pas- 
torate, and probably before. They were Ijoth of the 
legal profession, and ranked among the first of its 
members. Mr. Hooker was for eighteen years the 
Judge of Prol)ate for this county, and one of the 
original corporators of the American Board of Com- 
missioners for Foreii>:n Missions. 

At the time of Mr. Osgood's settlement, many of 
the ministers and churches in this Commonwealth 
were drifting away from Trinitarian Orthodoxy to- 
w^ard Unitarian views. Mr. Osgood, although holding 



mSTOEICAL ADDRESS. 43 

in the main with those who adhered to the Trinitarian 
doctrine, was at first regarded as more hberal than 
many of his ministerial brethren ; but, as the breacli 
widened between those who claimed the appellation 
of Liberal Christians and those who held to the old 
Orthodox standards, Mr. Osgood had no hesitation in 
ranoing; himself with those who adhered to the tenets 
of John Calvin. In fact, he was one of the first min- 
isters in this region who refused ministerial exchanges 
with the disciples of a laxer faith. To this step he 
was impelled by the conviction that it was necessary 
in order to preserve the church true to tlie faith of 
the fathers. It was a measure that at once alienated 
from him many who had been his warm friends. It 
brought him directly into collision with much of the 
wealth and influence of his church and parish. It 
even shook at first the confidence of some of his min- 
isterial brethren in this region in his prudence and 
judgment. They thought he was carrying his scru- 
ples too far. When the old meeting-house was found 
too strait and too uncomfortable for the congregation, 
and the parish decided to J^uild the present edifice, the 
storm, which had been for some time gathering, burst. 
In August, 1819, about twenty-five members of the 
church, comprising some of its most respectable and 
influential members, including the venerable ex-pas- 
tor, made application for a certificate of their regular 
standing, and a recommendation to the people of God 
as in full communion, that they might be formed into 
a separate church. It was known that there were 
others who stood ready to join in this movement 
when it should be successfully inaugurated. The re- 
sult was a secession, formidable, not in numbers, but 



44 HISTOKICAL ADDRESS. 

in the standing and influence of those concerned in it. 
In the language of Dr. Osgood, uttered thirty years 
afterwards, '' This was a trying time to me and to 
many of my parishioners. Families, who had long 
worshiped in the same sanctuary, and Avho had en- 
joyed most famihar and delightful intercourse, and 
some of whom were united in the tenderest bonds of 
consanguinity, were sundered for a time. If no 
speeches of recrimination were made, there were bit- 
ter feelings with some on both sides." In this crisis, 
it was fortunate for the stability of this church and 
its pastor that the officers of the church were not 
only good men, but wise men. They stood firm, and 
the pastor felt that his hands were strengthened. It 
was also fortunate that the minister, Avho was settled 
over the new Unitarian Society, w^as a gentleman of 
peculiar amiability and disposed to peace. The era 
of ill-feeling gradually passed away, and forbearance 
and courtesy eventually characterized the intercourse 
of the parties. 

In 1827, Mr. Osgood received the honorary degree 
of doctor of divinity from Princeton College, and was 
afterwards usually addressed and spoken of by that 
title. The active pastorate of Dr. Osgood continued 
down to May, 1854, a period of forty-five years. At 
that time, when he had reached the full period of 
threescore and ten years, he retired from the active 
duties of the pastoral office, although continuing still 
to retain the pastoral relation to the end of his life. 
His death occurred on the 8th of December, 1862. It 
might have been said of him : " His eye was not dim, 
or his natural force abated." It is rare that the death 
of a minister, or indeed of any citizen, leaves so wide 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 45 

a o-ap in the community where he has resided, as did 
that of Dr. Osgood. For more than half a century 
he had taken a prominent part in the moral and re- 
lio-ious movements of this town. No man was so 
universally known to the people as he. Few had so 
strong a hold upon their respect and sympathy. He 
was ever prompt to extend a helping hand to the 
suffering poor, who came under his observation ; his 
hospitality was unstinted, although often severely 
taxed. Occupying, as he did, the position of minister 
of the first parish of the largest town in Western Mas- 
sachusetts, at the confluence of travel from every 
quarter of the compass, his house was pre-eminently 
a minister's tavern. He was a genial man, social in 
his tastes and habits, fond of conversation, and ready 
to take an active part in it. He possessed an im- 
mense fund of anecdote, wdth which he was accus- 
tomed to interest and amuse those in whose company 
he chanced to be. His own peculiar traits of charac- 
ter have made him the subject of many anecdotes. 
Many of these have found their Avay into the public 
prints since his death. Some of them, I have no 
doubt, of an apocryphal character ; such, I am as- 
sured, is one recently published, which represents him 
as rescinding an arrangement to exchange with Eev. 
Mr. Storrs, of Longmeadow, in order to confute an 
assertion of his brother minister, when they met on 
their w^ay, that it had been fore-ordained from all 
eternity that they should exchange pulpits on that 
particular Sabbath. Dr. Osgood was too staunch a 
believer in the doctrine of the Divine decrees, ever 
to have indulged in a caprice of that kind. It may 
have been true of some other clergyman, but never 



46 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

of liim. Dr. Osgood enjoyed, to a remarkable extent, 
the most robust health dm-ing the whole of his min- 
isterial life. In reviewing his ministry at the end of 
forty years, he claimed, and with justice, that he had 
never been detained from his pulpit a single Sabbath 
on account of sickness. His person w^as manly, indi- 
cating uncommon physical strength. I have heard it 
said of him that in his prime he was the most athletic 
man in Springfield. Many anecdotes are told of him 
in this regard, some of them quite amusing. In any 
notice of Dr. Osgood, as the pastor of this church, 
and minister of this parish, a position affording a field 
of great usefulness so long filled by him with accept- 
ance, it is proper that there should be some mention 
of the invaluable aid, which he derived from his wif^. 
She was indeed an exemplary woman, one who may 
be safely held up as a model to the wives of ministers 
all over the land. This parish appreciated her use- 
fulness in the station she filled here, and, as some ex- 
pression of its respect for her, continued to her, dur- 
ing her life, a considerable part of the amiuity which 
had been paid to her husband. She survived him be- 
tween eight and nine years. Although Dr. Osgood 
wrote more than two thousand sermons, some of 
them of rare ability, and delivered on occasions of un- 
usual public interest, yet, with only one or two ex- 
ceptions, none of them were ever published. He had 
an almost invincible repugnance to having his ser- 
mons printed. At the close of the fortieth year of 
his ministry, he preached a discourse from Acts, 20th 
chapter, 26th and 27th verses, in which he reviewed 
his ministry from his settlement down to that time. 
It was a discourse of great interest and power, and 




^.ATo.^ 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



47 



the church strongly sohcited and obtained his consent 
to its pubhcation. 

It has been ah'-eady stated that the deacons officia- 
ting during the earher portion of Dr. Osgood's pas- 
torate, were Chauncey Brewer, George Bhss and John 
Hooker. 

Dea. Hooker died on the 6th of March, 1829, at 
the age of sixty-seven. Dea. George Bhss survived 
him one year, and died on the 8th of March, 1830, at 
the age of sixty-five. Eight days afterwards Dea. 
Chauncey Brewer died, on the 16th of March, 1830, 
at the age of eighty-seven. Owing to his age and 
infirmities, he had retired from active duty in the 
office for some years, and, about the year 1822, Col. 
Solomon Warriner was chosen a deacon to take his 
place. Col. AVarriner was a native of Wilbraham, 
from which place he removed to Springfield about the 
year 1800. From Springfield he removed to Pitts- 
field, and resided there until December, 1820, when he 
returned to Springfield, and resided here during the 
remainder of his life. Before leaving Springfield he 
had been the leader of the choir, and upon his return, 
he was re-instated in the same position, and continued 
to preside over the music of this church for more 
than a quarter of a century. During about the same 
period of time he held the office of deacon. He was 
also for many years superintendent of the Sabbath- 
school.* In September, 1849, he took a dismission to 
the South Church in this city. He died Jime 14, 
1860, at the age of eighty-two. Boardman Hubbard 
was chosen a deacon, April 6, 1826, thus increasing 
the number of deacons, performing actual service, 

* Appendix G. 



48 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

from three to four. Dea. Hubbard was employed 
in the United States Armory, and resided on the hill. 
He united with this church by letter from a church in 
Middletown, in March, 1824, and was dismissed to the 
Fourth Church, now the Olivet Church, at some time 
between 1836 and 1844, probably about 1841. Dan- 
iel Bontecou and George Merriam were elected dea- 
cons, March 5, 1833. Mr. Merriam held the office 
until March 6, 1842, when with thirty-two other mem- 
bers, he was dismissed to unite in the oro-anization 
of the South Church. Dea. Bontecou continued to 
officiate until May 2, 1845, Avhen he, too, was dismissed 
to the South Church. He died, November 24, 1857. 

To fdl the place, vacated by Dea. Merriam, Ben- 
jamin Eldridge Avas elected, April IS; 1842, and still 
retains the office of a deacon of this church, although 
by reason of infirmity, he has for several years re- 
tired from all active service. At this period it was 
the usage of the church to have four deacons, but it 
was rare that the office was filled by that number. 
Lay members were very often called upon to officiate 
at Communion seasons. There being but three in- 
cumbents in November, 1843, the church attempted 
to secure a sufficient number of officers by electing 
three additional deacons, but only one, Elijah W. 
Dickinson, accepted the office. He held it until he 
was dismissed to join the North Church. Chauncey 
Chapin united with the church by profession. May 5, 
1844, being then past middle life. Three years after- 
wards, he was chosen the clerk of the church, and, on 
the 21st of April, 1848, he was elected a deacon. 
Both of these offices he held until his death, which 
occurred May 6, 1851, at the age of sixty-two. 



HISTOniCAL ADDRESS. 49 

About this time there was an important change in 
the pohcy of the church as to the tenure of the office 
of deacon. From the earhest period of its existence, 
this office had always been regarded as one to be held 
for life. For some years, great difficulty had been 
experienced in finding men qualified, who were will- 
ino- to undertake its duties. Vacancies were fre- 
quently occurring, and most of those whom the 
church selected to fill them were unwilling to accept 
the office. In the hope to obviate this difficulty, it 
was decided, at a meeting held July 12, 1850, to elect 
two deacons for the term of five years. Daniel Rey- 
nolds was elected, and accepted the office. Two 
others were successively chosen, but both of them 
declined. From that time to the present, the church 
has adhered to the jDolicy of electing its deacons for 
limited terms, sometimes for five years, sometimes 
for three years. By a permanent rule of the church, 
adopted in 1871, the tenure is now fixed at six years. 
Under the limited term system thirteen different per- 
sons have held this office. 

Upon the retirement of Dr. Osgood from the active 
duties of his pastorate, the church and parish with 
great unanimity extended a call to Rev. Henry M. 
Parsons, then a student in the Theological Seminary 
at East Windsor, to be his successor. That call was 
accepted, and Mr. Parsons ordained on the fifteenth 
of November, 1854. He continued here just sixteen 
years, enjoying the affection and confidence — ever 
increasing — of this church and people, when, from a 
conviction that duty called him to another field of la- 
bor, he sought and obtained the reluctant consent of 
his people to a dissolution of his pastoral relation to 
4 



50 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. , 

this cliiircli. The history of his labors here must be 
left to later times. To him succeeded our jDresent 
pastor.* Long may it be before it will be time to re- 
cord the events of his ministry. 

Having now brought down this history of the 
church and parish as far as I propose, I now recur 
briefly to an earlier period, in order to state some 
matters of interest, that could not be conveniently 
introduced in the regular course of the narrative. 
There are some things in our early parochial history, 
which appear strange to our modern ideas. One of 
these is the practice that, from the time of the erec- 
tion of the first meeting-house down to the present 
one, seems to have prevailed, of a periodical assign- 
ing of seats to the congregation. Thus in 1664, 
when the town and parish were identical, a vote of 
this kind is recorded: ''Dec. 30, 1064. It is ordered 
y* the Selectmen and Deacon or deacons shall from 
tyme to tyme seate persons in y"^ meeting house either 
higher or lower accordinor as in their sound discretion 
they shall judge most meete." What a strange jum- 
ble of officials here, selectmen and deacons, uniting 
in this delicate and difficult duty of seating persons 
"hiffher or lower," at their discretion. A month 
later, in January, 1665, is found recorded an order of 
the selectmen, which I transcril^e in full as a curious 
specimen of the way in which the parochial police of 
those days was administered. It is in these words: 
"Forasmuch as order is beautifull & especially in y- 
house of God & y® want thereoff is displeasing to 
God & breeds disturbance among men — And where- 
as it doth appear y* divers young persons and some- 
times others, notwithstanding their being called upon 

*Kev. Edvviird Allen Reed. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 51 

Doe yet neglect to attend unto such order, as is pre- 
scribed them either for their sitting in y® meeting 
house, or for their reforming of disorders in & about 
y® meeting house in tyme of Gods Pubhke worship — 
It is therefore hereby ordered that whosoever of this 
Towneship shall not, from tyme to tyme to their sit- 
ting in y*^ meeting house, submit themselves to the 
ordering of y*' Selectmen & Deacons, or such as are 
impowered to seate & order persons in y® meeting 
house — All such persons as shall refuse or neglect to 
attend unto order as aforesaid shall forfeite as is here- 
in after expressed, viz. : Hee or shee that shall not 
take his or her seate ordered y™ fro tyme to tyme but 
shall in y^ days or tymes of Gods Publike worship 
Goe into & abide in any other seate, appointed for 
some other. Such disorderly person or persons for y^ 
first offence shall forfeit three shillings four pence to 
y® towne's treasury." By the same authority it was 
ordered that the seat formerly called the guard seat 
should be for smaller boys to sit in " that they may be 
more in sight of y® congregation." In this seat none 
w^ere permitted to sit "above y^ age of 14 or 15 
yeares." 

It appears that in the earlier period of our paro- 
chial history, care was taken that the men and women 
should be seated in separate seats. The first innova- 
tion upon this practice appears to have been in the 
year 1751, when the parish "voted that the commit- 
tee for seating the meeting house be directed to seat 
the men and women promiscuously." But in order 
that those of tender sensibilities should not be 
shocked by so great a departure from long-established 
custom, the committee were directed, upon applica- 



52 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

tion being made to them by any person or persons 
desiring "not to be seated promiscuously, to 'gratifie' 
them as near as they can." It is not surprising that 
the Parish selected John Worthington, Esq., and Mr. 
Luke Bliss, two of the wisest and most popular men 
of the town, to perform this delicate duty under this 
new condition of things. After a time this matter of 
new seating the meeting-house came to be attended 
with a good deal of difficulty. At a parish meeting 
in December, 1790, the parish voted to choose a seat- 
ing committee of five persons. Twenty-two w^ere 
chosen to the office, all of whom refused to serve. 
The meeting was then adjourned two days. At the 
adjourned meeting, it w\as voted to reconsider the 
vote, providing for a committee of five, and as a sub- 
stitute, it was determined that a committee of three 
should nominate a committee of twenty-one persons, 
of which the nominating committee should be them- 
selves members, and from these twenty-one, seven 
persons were to be drawn (by lot I suppose) wdio 
should seat the meeting-house, and report at an ad- 
journed meeting about one month later. This was 
"done and the report of this committee, charged with 
this delicate duty, was finally accepted. This seating 
held good for four years, but in 1794 it was found 
necessary to reseat, and substantially the same proc- 
ess was repeated. The practice of seating the meet- 
ing-house continued until the erection of the present 
house in 1819. A record of a parish meeting held 
April 5, 1737, indicates the rule by wdiich the assign- 
ment of seats was then regulated. It was "voted 
that the age of Persons and theire own Estates as 
they stand upon the list (Negros Excepted) are the 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 53 

Principal Rule that said Com^®® are to be governed by 
in theire proseedings and any other Dignity that any 
Parsons may be Clothed or attended withall shall be 
Left Discressionary with sd Committe." 

In these modern days, when our city maintains 
with so large, and yet at so reasonable and proper an 
expenditure, its organized and paid fire department, 
with all its equipment of fire steamers, reservoirs, hy- 
drants and telegraphic fire alarms, but few, if any, 
among the present inhabitants of our city, are 
aware how largely the means for extinguishing fires, 
not a century since, were provided and controlled by 
this parish. Yet the record shows that in November, 
1792, the parish granted for the purpose of defray- 
ing the expense of building the engine-house the sum 
of six pounds, eleven shillings, two pence and two 
farthings; and in March 1794, voted to pay the ex- 
pense of five poles for the fire wards, and also to pay 
for two fire-hooks and six leather buckets for the use 
of the fire-engine. And the same year, Pitt Bliss was 
paid two pounds, twelve shillings and six pence for 
the six buckets and " for repairing the hose to the en- 
gine." Not content with repairing the old hose, the 
parish, in 1798, voted that "Jonathan Dwight, Esq., 
William Ely and Pitt Bliss be a committee to exam- 
ine the hose belonging to the engine, and if they 
judge it necessary, to procure a new one at the ex- 
pense of the Parish." Precisely how the extinguish- 
ing of fires came to be regarded as a parochial duty, 
may not be quite clear, but certainly there can be 
nothing in it inconsistent with practical Christianity. 

Looking back from the stand-point we now occupy, 
upon the past history of this church, and tracing it 



54 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 

through all the vicissitudes of two hundred and thir- 
ty-eight years, down to the present moment, we can 
see that, while it has had its alternations of prosper- 
ity and of trial — sometimes depressed by disasters 
the most discouraging, at other times rejoicing in the 
consciousness of vigorous growth — the tokens of a 
kind Providence, watching constantly over and pro- 
tecting it, have ever been conspicuous. Many col- 
onies have gone out from it, that have become strong 
and prosperous churches.* To some of these in their 
infancy this church extended a helping hand, until 
they ceased to need help. All of them, without ex- 
ception, have become centres of influence, diffusing 
Christian light and love through the community 
around them. To all these, this church can point 
with maternal affection and pride and say, '' These are 
my jewels." These repeated drafts, that have been 
made upon the numbers of this ancient church, have 
not in any degree exhausted its resources, or impaired 
its strength. It stands to-day — on the spot where it 
had its birth, and where, through almost two centuries 
and a half, it has ever stood — with a larger member- 
ship than ever before. United in itself, and united 
in a pastor, whom it loves and honors, it can with 
reverent gratitude to God exclaim : 

" How are thy servants blessed, O Lord, 
How siire is their defense. 
Eternal wisdom is their guide. 
Their help, Omnipotence." 

*Appendix H. 



APPENDIX. 



A. . 

Mr. John Norton, " one of the reverend elders of IpswicTi," 
was selected to write an answer to Mr. Pynclion's book " with all 
convenient speed." It was recommended that Mr. Pynchon . 
should take this answer home with him " to consider thereof "— 

For his share in the attempt to convince Pynchon of his error 
Mr. Norton was awarded twenty pounds hy the General Court, 
and his production ordered to be sent to England to be printed. 

After his return to England, Mr. Pynchon wrote and published 
a reply to Mr. Norton's book. 

B. 

The use of the ground at the foot of Elm street as a training- 
field soon gave way to its use as a burial-ground. The lots thus 
occupied were on either side of Elm street, extending from what 
is now Water street, within a few feet of the margin of the 
River bank. The general care and control of these lots was ex- 
ercised by this parish. Nearly all the burials in this part of the 
town were in them until the opening of the present cemetery in 
1841. By an arrangement between the parish and the proprietors 
of the cemetery, to which the consent of friends, so far as pos- 
sible, was obtained, all the remains in the old burial-grounds 
were removed to a new resting-place, more remote from the rum- 
ble of the cars and the shriek of the locomotive. 



56 APPENDIX. 

O. 

Mr. Brewer published one sermon delivered by him, March 26, 
1724, entitled, '' God's help to be sought in time of war, with a 
due sense of the vanity of what help man can afford." This dis- 
course I have never seen. Rev. Dr. Sprague says of it : " It is 
a respectable performance, and indicates a spirit of ardent piety." 

D. 

The following entries in the records of deaths in Springfield 

indicate the individuals referred to : 

"Reice Bodurtha was drowned dead March 18 1683 

John Bodurtha was drowned dead March 18 1683 

Lydia Bodurtha the wife of Joseph Bodurtha was drowned 

dead March IS 1683." 

E. 

Mr. Breck's letter of acceptance is recorded as follows : 

" To the inhahitants of the First Precinct in Springfield. 
Gentlemen : 

I can't but with pleasure and Thankfullness take Notice of the 
Greate kindness and affection which you have Expressed to me in 
that after so many Difficultys you have Done me the Honnour to 
invite me to settle with yo\i in the work of the Evangelical 
Ministry and Now being Desired to signifie to you my inclina- 
tion relating to that affair I would say that I Look upon it to be 
a matter of importance and very well worthy of a serious consid- 
eration and therefore I have Indeavored in the best manner I was 
able to weigh it with all the circumstances and consequences of 
it, and upon the most calm and deliberate Examination of the 
matter I have found many obstacles in the way wh°'i have b" a 
greate discouragement to my accepting your call, particularly the 
uneasyness of some of the Neighbouring ministers, which I sup- 
pose you are all sensible I have Indeavored to Remove, and it 
was my Design to have used some further methods with them to 
remove their uneasiness Relating to the affaire of Mr. Clap (as I 
hinted to you at your Last meeting) but finding that there have 
since some other difiicultys arose Relating to my Examination at 
Boston whci" cant so well be issued by the Neighbouring min- 
isters alone and also seeing (as I apprehend) that some of them 



APPENDIX. 57 

have been Industrious against me, I find myself disliartened from 
usino- any further endeavours with them. Not that I design or 
desire that these things should be husht up in silence but that 
they may have a full and faire hearing before Proper Persons. An- 
other greate discouragement to my accepting your invitation is 
the dissatisfaction I find amongst some of your own People whom 
I am very loth to greive. And also the greatness of the work, and 
my own inequality to it ; these I say have been very greate Dis- 
courao-ements to me, but notwithstanding also I am unwilling to 
disoblige any either of the Ministry or of your own People yet 
after Repeated application to the Throne of Grace for direction 
and to my friends for advice and also after the most careful ex- 
amination of the case, I cant but think it my duty to comply 
with your desires and humbly Relying upon the Gracious Pres- 
ence and assistance of God, I accept your call, asking your 
prayers for me that God would carry me through the greate work 
which he seems in his Providence to call me unto. For who is suffi- 
cient for these things. And let it be our united prayers and en- 
deavours y*- bouth you and I may be under the divine Conduct 
and direction, that my settlement may be made happy amongst 
you, and that we may be made Great Blessings to each other. 
May we Live Happyly togather in this World and spend a happy 
Eternity togather in the world to come. Now that Grace, Mercy 
and Peace may be multiplyed unto you is the harty Prayer and 

sincear desire of 

Your friend and servant 

Robert Breck" 

I do not know whether the peculiar spelling in this letter as 
recorded, is due to Mr. Breck, or to Mr. Thomas Stebbins, the 
Parish Clerk of that day, but conjecture to the clerk. 

F. 

The covenant, entitling those consenting to it to baptism for 
themselves or their children, called the " Halfway Covenant," was 
in these words: "You professing your serious belief of the 
Christian religion, as it is contained in the Sacred Scriptures, do 
now seriously and very solemnly give up yourself to God in our 
Lord Jesus Christ, resolving with his help to conform your life to 
the rules of his holy religion so long as you live, and repenting 
of all things wherein you have transgressed, you give yourself to 



58 APPENDIX. 

the Lord Jeliovab, who is the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost, 
and receive him as your God and portion. You give yourself to 
the Lord Jesus Christ and rely upon him as the Head of his peo- 
ple in the covenant of grace, and as your Prophet, Priest and 
King forever. You do submit to the laws of his kingdom, as 
they are administered among this his people, and will herewith 
be at pains to obtain that further preparation of the Sanctuary, 
which may embolden your further approaches to the enjoyment 
of God in all his ordinances!" 

G. 

The origin and earliest history of the Sabbath school here is 
involved in some uncertainty. When the present church edifice 
was first occupied, in August, 1819, for religious worship, the 
Sabbath-school was a recognized institution. Its history in the 
interval between the demolition of the old meeting-house in the 
spring of 1819, and the occupation of the new in August, can be 
traced. A few persons remember the school in the old house, 
but when it was first gathered there and how long it was taught 
there, can not so clearly be ascertained. The result of many in- 
quiries and much investigation, points to 1818 as the year when 
the first school was gathered in the old meeting-house. 

It is probable that at first it was under the supervision and in- 
struction of a few ladies, with occasional aid from gentlemen, but 
soon came to have a corps of male teachers. There is in some 
minds an impression — perhaps a recollection — that still earlier 
there was instruction given on the Sabbath in a private house to 
a few children, probably girls, and it is quite likely that this may 
have been the nucleus of the school afterwards gathered in the 
old meeting-house about 1818. When the old house was taken 
down, the new church, which had been erected just in the rear of 
it, was not ready for use. The religious services of the congre- 
gation were conducted during the interval in the old Court-house, 
which then stood on the east side of Market street, right where 
Sanford street now intersects it. A part of the Sabbath-school 
was held in the old brick school-house, which then stood just in 
the rear of the old town hall on State street. This part was 
probably superintended by Judge Hooker, one of the deacons. 
Another portion of the school met at the school-house then stand- 
ing near the southerly end of Main street, and was superintended 



APPENDIX. 59 

and taught by Oliver B. Morris and Eev. Setli Bliss, with the 
assistance of a few other teachers. 

The present meeting-house was dedicated, August 19, 1819, 
and about the same time the school was gathered in this edifice. 
Judge John Hooker is supposed to have been its first male super- 
intendent, probably from 1819 to 1823. About the latter date, 
Frederick A. Packard became the superintendent, and from that 
time new energy appears to have been infused into the school. 
It was at first kept up only during the warm or moderate season 
of the year. There were no means of warming the meeting- 
house prior to 1826. Probably about that time winter Sabbath- 
schools were introduced. But every spring and autumn a re- 
organization took place, as if for a new school. 

Down to about 1828 two sessions a day appear to have been 
held, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Certainly 
in 1832 and ever since, only one session a day has been held. At 
first, this was either in the morning or at noon. Latterly the 
afternoon has been devoted to the exercises of the school. These 
exercises originally consisted in the recitation of verses of Scrip- 
ture, hymns, and answers from the Assembly's Catechism, which 
had been committed to memory during the week. At the close 
of the school in the autumn, cards of proficiency were given to 
the scholars, certifying the number of hymns and verses that 
each had recited. 

No record of the school prior to 1826 has been preserved. The 
record from 1826 to 1830 contains merely statistics of the attend- 
ance, with an occasional brief remark. The first record of the 
names of teachers and scholars, and the organization of the 
classes, bears date in 1830. 

In 1832, the Springfield Sabbath-school Society was formed, 
and the managers of that Society had for many years the charge 
of organizing the school, appointing the superintendent and libra- 
rian, and assigning the teachers and classes. 

At a much later period, the selection of superintendent was 
left for a short time to the school, which chose that officer by bal- 
lot. Afterwards, that responsibility was devolved upon the 
teachers. 

At present, the church has the entire charge of the school, and 
annually elects all its officers. 

An important event, in the history of this church and Sabbath- 



GO APPENDIX. 

school, was tlie erection and completion, in June, 1874, of a new 
and commodious chapel and Sabbath-school room. 

H. 

The first colony from this clinrch was in IGOO, when a church 
and parish Avas formed on the west side of the river, including the 
members then residing in what are now West Springfield, Hol- 
yoke and Agawam. 

The church and parish of Longmeadow were separated from 
this in 1703. 

Wilbraham, then known as "Springfield Mountains," followed 
in 1741, and Chicopee in 1750. Until Chicopee was incorporated 
as a town, in 1848, the legal designation of the oldest parish 
there, was the " Second Parish of Springfield." The secession of 
the Unitarian Society, in 1819, and the formation of a parish, 
made that the Third Parish of Springfield. The Fourth, or 
Olivet Church and Parish, was formed in 1833. Eleven members 
of the Pirst Church, at their own request, were dismissed to form 
a new church on the hill. 

Thirty-four members of the First Church were dismissed, at 
their request, to be formed into the South Church, in 1842. 

The North Church, Asdiich was organized in 1846, and the 
Memorial Church in 18G5, although not strictly colonies from 
this church, received large contributions of members from it. 



STEEEOSCOPIC VIEWS 

OF 

SPRINGFIELD, MASS 



No. 1. New Court House and First Church. 

2. New Court House. A. 

3. New Court House. B. 

4. New Court House. C. 

5. New Court House. Main Entrance. 

6. City Hall. 

7. Old High School Building. 

8. New High School Buildaig. A. 

9. New High School Building. B. 

10. New High School Building and Unitarian Church. 

11. Massasoit House. 
12 Haynes' Hotel. 

13. Kailroad Depot. A. 

14. Bailroad Depot. B. 

15. Railroad Depot and New Railroad Bridge. 

16. Interior New Railroad Bridge. 

17. New Railroad Bridge. 

18. Boston & Albany Railroad Building. 

19. Agawani National Bank Building. 

20. Daily Union Building. 

21. City Library Building. A. 

22. City Library Building. B. 

23. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co's Building. 

24. Savings Bank Building. 

25. State Street M. E. Church. 

26. Unitarian Church. 

27. Salem Street Church. 

28. Old South Church. 

29. Old South Church. Interior. 

30. Summer House, George Howard's Estate. 

31. Main Street, north from Park Street. 

32. Howard Street, from Main Street. 

33. Elliott Street, from State Street. 

34. O. H. Greenleaf's Residence. 

35. United States Arsenal. 

36. OflScers' Quarters, Armory Grounds. 

37. Panorama from the Arsenal. A. 

38. Panorama from the Arsenal. B. 

39. Panorama from the Arsenal. C. 

40. Panorama from the Arsenal. D. 

41. Panorama from the Arsenal. E. 

42. Panorama from the Arsenal. F. 

43. Panorama from Crescent Hill. 

44. I'anorama from Long Hill. A. 

45. Panorama from Long Hill. B. 

46. Panorama from Long Hill. C 

47. Panorama from Long Hill. D. 

48. Panorama from Long Hill. E. 

WHITNEY & ADAMS, Publishers, 

Springtield, Mass. 

Mailed to any address on receipt of 20 cents each. 



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"PITZMAROON," 

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"The Magic Hammer/' 

A FAIRY STORY, 

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^Vith 27 Spirited Illustrations by the Author. 

Price, $1.25. 

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BIRD'S EYE VIEW 



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This work, giving the location of nearly every building, street, park, &c., 
in tlie City, has been prepared with great care and expense, and will be by 
far the best general view of Springfield ever produced. 

It is valuable to every one, as we give the exact location and style of every 
Home, as well as every Public Building, as nearly as possible in a work so 

Real Estate and Insurance Agents will find this particularly valuable, as 
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is finished in colors, and in itself will make a beautiful picture. Price, ^<^m. 

We also publisli maps of Holyoke, Westfield, Chicopce and Chicopee Falls. 
Price, $3.00 each. 

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